Starting yesterday, GOP president sundowner and his Senate backers are now going after FBI Director Christopher Wray for being part of the DERP STATE FISA conspiracy.

Do I detect a pattern?

In truth the pattern has always been this: as soon as the White House becomes aware that one of their unhinged Russian smoke screen rantings is about to be unmasked they up the ante. It always starts with paid trolls seeding the mediascape with “insider scoops” that are precisely the opposite of the humiliating truth. That’s followed by vague accusations of “conflict” targeting those responsible for uncovering that truth. Then the final phase is to discredit and accuse those officials responsible for publishing that truth. Scroll through the history of their communications and that is the pattern that emerges.

I’m guessing this means that AG Barr has now seen advance summaries of the IG report exonerating the FBI. Earlier trolls like diGenova were assigned to “leak” false claims about the contents of the IG report exactly the way they “leaked” false claims about the Mueller report. So today begins the smearing of Christopher Wray. In another week or two it will be Michael Horowitz.

In Re 4, I deliberately chose the word “exonerate” in 4 to mirror the GOP position with respect to the Mueller report.

In truth I expect that it is impossible for any such investigation to every “exonerate” an agency as large, bureaucratic, and possessing powers as sweeping and intrusive as the FBI. I think it’s even an outside possibility that a biased prosecutor armed with a political agenda could find a reason to bring an indictment against someone in almost any FBI office in the US. That doesn’t mean they’d get a conviction. Or that they’d even be able to sustain a termination.

Teh Dumbfuck, president sundowner, FOX news, and almost every GOP member of the House are obviously not “pleased to wait for the report”. So in that spirit I’ll reveal what I think it might contain.

-The general finding that the FISC warrant applications submitted for surveillance of Trumpland espionage operators complied with the law, but may have shaded the information provided to the court. -Some agency procedural regulations were violated. But they were minor. And they are and have been routinely violated going back to the beginnings of the court. -Recommendations for new regulations and new procedures. -Turning Point USA is filled with racists.

I think it’s even an outside possibility that a biased prosecutor armed with a political agenda could find a reason to bring, or refuse to bring, an indictment against someone in almost any FBI office in the US.

Roger Rabbit Commentary: Technically, it’s not unethical for a lawyer to advise someone to ignore a subpoena, because a person who receives a subpoena is entitled to challenge it in a court, and ignoring it is one of the ways to get it before a judge, as that usually will trigger an enforcement action by the issuer. The other way is to file a lawsuit against the issuer to quash the subpoena or limit its scope. And if the judge orders the person to comply with the subpoena, s/he is entitled to appeal the judge’s ruling to a higher court. However, it would be unethical for Graham or any other lawyer to advise the person to ignore a final court order requiring compliance with a subpoena.

@11 It’s the same advice I’d give to any Mafia client of mine, if I had such clients. And yes, even thieves, perjurers, gangsters, and traitors are entitled to representation, and it’s not unethical to represent or advise them if you’re so inclined.

@14 Michael Brown and GE have nothing to do with this, squid. I’m not disputing that Washington gave Boeing multibillion-dollar tax gifts — I’ve criticized that in HA’s comment threads myself — but instead of trying to weasel out of my challenge to your comment, show me where Goldy credited Inslee for these tax gifts. Show me Goldy’s exact words (a Vox article doesn’t qualify). Quote them, with a link to your source. Either put up, or be called a bullshitter.

8, Of course you wouldn’t get this. But if my telling you isn’t enough, there’s always the Mueller report.

Normally within the DOJ there is always a bias against bringing a criminal indictment. And this points out a glaring mistake in my post. FBI offices don’t bring indictments. They make referrals and recommendations. Political appointees preside over indictment decisions. James Comey made a recommendation. The Attorney General and the United States Attorney are free to follow or ignore that recommendation.

That remains true today, all these many long months later. About the previous IG report, also widely lied about by Trumpland Espionage apologists and TeeVee AssKlowns like deGenova, Dir. Wray had this to say:“This report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper considerations actually impacting the investigation under review.” The earlier report did criticize the conduct of the FBI for creating an appearance of bias and for raising doubts in the minds of millions of pill-crushing trailerbilly idiots who deserve our pity.

That was more than a year ago. And then almost two years after Comey’s recommendation. In all that time, under the direction of a series of obsequious GOP stooge AGs still no indictment over BUTTERYMALES.

Gudwad, some free advice: “You either get bitter or you get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you.” ― Josh Shipp He is most known for his TEDx talk entitled “Every Kid is One Caring Adult Away from Being a Success”

@16 A political decision not to prosecute, and a politically motivated prosecution, are too vastly different things. Whether something that debatably could have been prosecuted but wasn’t is one thing. It may raise questions, but isn’t dangerous. Maliciously prosecuting innocent people because you don’t like them is terribly dangerous. No one should ever be allowed to do that.

That’s about what the average family got from Trump’s tax cuts. In short, Trump’s trade actions have de factor repealed the middle class of those tax cuts.

But this is standard GOP playbook. When Republicans cut taxes for the rich, they typically throw crumbs at the non-rich classes, then claw them back through some sneaky underhanded means.

This might be inflation, or entitlement cuts, or mucking with Social Security colas and/or Medicare premiums, or higher food and gas prices, or in this case tariffs, which amount to a sales tax on consumer goods.

The one thing you can always be sure of is that when Republicans give you something, they have no intention of letting you keep it.

That Trump tax cut you got? Forget it. It’s gone. You got nothing from Trump and the GOP Congress, which is exactly what they wanted you to get.

Vote for them at your peril. If you vote Republican after this, don’t expect sympathy from me. Being a sucker is a voluntary activity, not an Act of God or random misfortune.

But can they? Absolutely. Even knowing that they are unlikely to obtain a conviction, there’s nothing to stop DOJ political appointees other than due process itself. Which, as you know, does not come fast or cheap.

Yet armed with that, along side the never ending bag-pipe drone of BUTTERYMALES/SETHRICH/BENGHAAAZIII!!! bullshit, and quite routine demands from president sundowner, there is still no indictment of Hillary Clinton from any of the GOP political appointees. If he didn’t start drinking early enough, Teh Dumbfuck might almost feel let down.

“Yeah we fucked you. Should have gone to school and gone into corporate life where the real money is made. Losing your income isn’t like dying. You’re the expendable troops in this bloodless war.”

There will be some sacrifices on the part of Americans, I grant you that, but I also would say that sacrifice is pretty minimal compared to the sacrifices that our soldiers make overseas that are fallen heroes that are laid to rest in Arlington make. …

you can’t compare those two sacrifices.

…

When I’m at home in Arkansas, I hear from farmers who are worried about opening up new markets and getting their products to market, but they also understand that China is a serious competitor to the United States and wants to displace us around the world. And they look at the sacrifices that soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines make around the world and they’re willing to bear some of the sacrifices in the short term, to hopefully in the long term to ensure our longterm prosperity and security.”

@22 I think it’s important to understand that conservatives, for some time now, have thought of U.S. politics in terms of civil war, and many of them believe they are doing is not politics but waging a kind of civil war without bloodshed.

This has implications. In war, anything goes. Rules no longer apply. There are no moral restraints or ethical boundaries in place, as there are and necessarily must be in a civilized society at peace.

In this kind of civil war, government authority can be abused, opponents can be denied their civil rights, and defying legal process, committing perjury, and malicious prosecution are simply weapons of war; and in war, you ruthlessly use every weapon you have, with the solitary goal of overwhelming and defeating the enemy.

Republicans have left civilized society behind them. They are subversives now. What’s occurring is not politics but insurrection. We must confront it and deal with it accordingly.

25, The next Attorney General under a Democratic President (I say it that way because I have little confidence that Barr will stay through 2020) will have to be prepared to hand out a metric shit ton of pink slips. And for all the effort that has gone into protecting the FBI, given the kind of political pressure brought to bear over the course of president sundowner’s term of office, that Attorney General will have to make restoring the FBI a focus.

The link is to letters and documents from NRA’s advertising company. Notice that the advertising company was asked to provide the NRA employee, Wayne LaPierre, with a credit card that he could use to buy all this expensive shit. Now given the size of the purchases many might be drawn to question the legitimacy of the expenses. And that is not a bad question. Not a bad question at all.

But it’s important when looking at this not to overlook an even better question: Why was the advertising company paying the expenses of the NRA employee in the first place?

Couple of reasons: First, the advertising company is not a charity. But the NRA is. And charities are subject to all kinds of public disclosure of finances in return for being granted tax exemption. So moving the expenses off the books helps hide them in case they aren’t related to charitable purposes. Like for instance the rent on LaPierre’s girlfriend’sintern’s apartment on Columbus Circle.

The other big reason is to dilute overhead expenses into programming on the NRA reports. Taking the high roller’s massive luxury expenses off the NRA books and putting them onto the advertising agency makes them look like charitable programming and services, instead of like overhead expense. Lot’s of shitty companies try to pull this kind of con in various ways. Most of them are far more artful and intelligent about it.

The way the NRA set this up, they handed their fate to the advertising company.

Probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Most really dumb ideas do. For example, joining the NRA.

Demorat Pornstar Party Of Russia Hoax & China Sellout News– China Joe Biden (D-China$) Has $1.5 Billion Reasons To Blame Trump For Tariffs, e.g., https://nypost.com/2019/05/11/the-troubling-reason-why-biden-is-so-soft-on-china/ ————————- “The president has done nothing but increase the tariffs, the debt, and the trade deficit,” Biden said in response to a question from a CNN reporter in New Hampshire. Trump raised tariffs on some China products last week after leaders reneged on the framework for a renegotiated trade deal. Trump’s initial trade tariffs brought China to the negotiating table. Biden admitted that China is a problem and that its “greatest violation” is the theft of intellectual property. But he argued that Trump was hurting American farmers and workers with tariffs. “The only people paying the price are farmers and working people right now,” he said. “He’s going about it all the wrong way, a lot of bravado, no action.” Biden did not mention that the Obama administration failed to address the trade imbalance and the issue of intellectual property during his eight years as vice president.https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/05/13/joe-biden-criticizes-donald-trumps-tough-tariffs-china/

“Under my Administration, we are restoring @NASA to greatness and we are going back to the Moon, then Mars. I am updating my budget to include an additional $1.6 billion so that we can return to Space in a BIG WAY!”

“American farmers are running out of patience with President Donald Trump’s trade war with China. Farmers have long stood behind Trump’s mission to get a better trade deal with Beijiing …. Soybean, corn, and wheat growers have been battling tariffs from China for nearly a year now. Beijing imposed those duties in retaliation to tariffs put on Chinese products by the Trump administration.”

“@14 Michael Brown and GE have nothing to do with this, squid. I’m not disputing that Washington gave Boeing multibillion-dollar tax gifts — I’ve criticized that in HA’s comment threads myself — but instead of trying to weasel out of my challenge to your comment, show me where Goldy credited Inslee for these tax gifts. Show me Goldy’s exact words (a Vox article doesn’t qualify). Quote them, with a link to your source. Either put up, or be called a bullshitter.”

He’s had over 8 hours to put up, and no response. It’s now time to call Doctor Dumbfuck a BULLSHITTER.

“Kirkwood noted that Kavanaugh has in the past been pro-defendant in antitrust cases, as are many conservative judges.”

If you want to be cynical, Kavanaugh saw an opportunity and ruled to slash the profits of tech giants that conservatives feel don’t kowtow to them enough. Both Apple and Google have defied the conservative agenda and must be punished.

@46 I can tell you right now he’s not a Christian (or christian, if you prefer). Calling himself one wouldn’t make him one. Paying lip service to Jesus’ teachings while doing the opposite only makes a person a hypocrite.

A Republican is someone who thinks a relative who helps a senior citizen fill out a ballot should be thrown in prison, but has no problem with a billionaire tax cheat ignoring subpoenas for his tax returns.

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